COACHING
Scott O'Brien was hired as the Patriots' special teams coach on Feb. 3, 2009 and is in his 22nd NFL season in 2012. Prior to joining the Patriots, he spent two seasons as the Denver Broncos' special teams coordinator. He served as the special teams coach on Head Coach Bill Belichick's staff with the Cleveland Browns from 1991-95. O'Brien was named the NFL Special Teams Coach of the Year by his peers in 1994.
O'Brien has previously served as special teams coach for four NFL teams – Cleveland (1991-95), Baltimore (1996-98), Carolina (1999-2004) and Denver (2007-08). Additionally, he took on added responsibilities as Carolina's assistant head coach for his six-year tenure with the Panthers and also spent two seasons (2005-06) with the Miami Dolphins as coordinator of football operations/assistant to the head coach on Nick Saban's staff.
In 2011, O'Brien coached special teams captain Matthew Slater to his first career Pro Bowl berth as one of only two players in the NFL to be invited as a special teams player. Kicker Stephen Gostkowski led the AFC and finished third in the NFL with 143 points. Return specialist Julian Edelman returned his second career punt for a touchdown and is the all-time franchise leader with a 12.4 yard average per punt return. Additionally, Zoltan Mesko led the AFC and finished third in the NFL with a 41.5 net punting average. His 46.5 average overall in 2011 was the best in team history.
The 2010 season was a truly successful season for Coach O'Brien's special teams units. The Patriots scored four touchdowns on special teams, tied for the most under O'Brien's watch in his 18 seasons as a special teams coach. Brandon Tate returned two second-half kickoffs for touchdowns - a 97 yarder at home vs. Cincinnati (9/12) and a 103 yarder at Miami (10/4). In that same Monday night game in Miami, Patrick Chung blocked a second half punt and a field goal, becoming the first NFL player since 2003 to do both in a single game. Under O'Brien's tutelage, Julian Edelman set a franchise record for the best punt return average in a single season with a 15.3-yard punt return average in 2010. Edelman set another franchise record with a 94-yard punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter vs. Miami (1/2).
In 19 seasons as an NFL special teams coach, O'Brien's units have produced 35 special teams touchdowns – including 20 punt returns for touchdowns, 11 kickoff returns for touchdowns, two blocked field goals for a touchdown one fake field goal for a touchdown and one blocked punt for a touchdown. Of the 12 NFL players that have returned two punts for a touchdown in the same game, three have done so under the guidance of Scott O'Brien: Eric Metcalf with Cleveland in 1993, Jermaine Lewis with Baltimore in 1997 and Steve Smith with Carolina in 2002.
While there have been 12 teams that have had two kickoff returns for a touchdown in the same game, there has been only one time in NFL history that two different players have returned kickoffs for a touchdown in the same game since the 1970 merger. That accomplishment occurred under O'Brien in Baltimore during the 1998 season when Patrick Johnson and Corey Harris returned consecutive kickoffs for a touchdown vs. Minnesota on Dec. 13. It is also the only time since the merger that two different players have returned consecutive kicks for a touchdown.
Over six seasons from 1999-2004, O'Brien served as the Carolina Panthers' assistant head coach/special teams, presiding over a unit that produced 11 special teams touchdowns during that period while allowing the lowest opponent kickoff return average (19.8) over that span. During O'Brien's tenure in Carolina, the Panthers had a league-high six kickoffs returned for touchdowns and were one of only two NFL teams to not allow a kickoff return for a touchdown over that span.
O'Brien began his NFL coaching career when Belichick hired him to coach the Cleveland Browns' special teams in 1991. During O'Brien's five seasons with the Browns (1991- 95), Cleveland tied for the NFL lead with eight special teams touchdowns while also becoming the only NFL team to not allow a special teams score over that span. Under O'Brien's tutelage, Cleveland punt returner Eric Metcalf earned Pro Bowl honors in 1993 and 1994 while leading the NFL with four punt returns for touchdowns over those two seasons.
When the Browns franchise moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens in 1996, O'Brien remained with the club and served for three more seasons (1996-98) as special teams coach. Baltimore had six special teams touchdowns in those three seasons, including four on punt returns.
O'Brien coached for 11 seasons in the college ranks before entering the NFL. He got his start in coaching at his alma mater, working as an assistant coach at Wisconsin- Superior from 1980-82. He went on to coach linebackers and special teams at UNLV (1983-85) and Rice (1986), and also served a four-year stint (1987-90) as the special teams coach at Pittsburgh before entering the NFL in 1991.
PLAYINGO'Brien played linebacker at Wisconsin-Superior and following his collegiate career he was signed to contracts by the Green Bay Packers and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.
PERSONALO'Brien was born on June 25, 1957 in Superior, Wisc. He is married to the former Shawn Kinney, who earned her doctorate degree in psychology from Pittsburgh.
